


twinkling lights

by thewolfthatwrites



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Feelings, Friends With Benefits, Light Angst, M/M, Sterek Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-10 16:18:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5592865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewolfthatwrites/pseuds/thewolfthatwrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He stares at the twinkling lights for a long time after everyone leaves. The words play over and over within his head; the words that had been uttered so quietly, he had almost missed them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	twinkling lights

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SilentScreamer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentScreamer/gifts).



He stares at the twinkling lights for a long time after everyone leaves. The words play over and over within his head; the words that had been uttered so quietly, he had almost missed them. They were whispered as everyone was saying their goodbyes. The noise in the room loud enough to conceal the words from the other wolves.

Gooseflesh covers his arms as he thinks about the hot breath on his cheek. So innocent, yet so far from that.

It started on accident, really. He needed someone to talk to. Someone that wasn’t Scott. Scott didn’t know what it was like. Hopefully he never would. Derek knew though.

It was easier than he thought it’d be, opening up to him. Then, one thing led to another and soon enough, they were sharing more than just thoughts. They had rules though. No kissing. No one in the pack was to know. And no love. It was why it worked. They were taking back control of their bodies, using them in only ways they saw fit.

But now the words. The words had been spoken, and Stiles didn’t know what to do.

So instead of doing anything, he stares at the lights.

 

* * *

 

“Hey, have you seen Stiles lately?” Scott asks lightly after a few minutes of small talk. He knows something happened, he just hasn’t been able to figure out what exactly.

“Not since the last pack meeting,” Derek answers as he picks the menu up.

“I think something happened at the meeting… He’s been distancing himself again, but not the same way as before. I don’t really know how to explain it… I know you guys were hanging out a bit more since your schedules synced up; is that still going on?” He knows they were getting close. Their scents were starting to intermingle more than his did with Stiles. But today, there’s barely a trace of Stiles in Derek’s scent.

A look crosses over Derek’s face, and Scott catches a change in his scent. Both are gone too quick for him to analyze though. Derek just shakes his head after a moment.

“Do you know what happened?” Scott wants Derek to be honest with him, but he can see the second Derek decides not to be. He ends up shaking his head again, keeping his eyes on the menu before him. Scott pauses, knowing he could call Derek on the lie, but he knows if he demands the truth, Derek will just throw his walls back up. “Let me know if you hear anything?”

Derek’s entire body seems to sigh before he nods.

Scott watches him for a few more seconds before looking down at his own menu. “So, have you tried the hot wings here?”

 

* * *

 

“Have you talked to Derek since the last pack meeting?” Scott asks while Stiles is up, switching the discs in the DVD player.

“Um…not really…why?”

“I think something happened. He just doesn’t seem like himself lately,” he says, glad Stiles can't sniff through his forced nonchalance. Stiles pauses at his words. There’s a change in Stiles’ scent. It’s almost identical to the change in Derek’s at the restaurant a few days before. Like Derek’s, it’s gone before Scott can really get a handle on it.

“How do you mean?” Stiles asks, forcing his own nonchalance.

“We went out for lunch the other day, and he’s back to one-word or no-word answers.” Scott leaves out that it was the mention of Stiles that brought it on. He waits until Stiles has turned back around before continuing. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I know I don’t want to pressure him into talking to me. You guys were hanging out more, right? Maybe you could ask?”

The same look that Derek had crosses over Stiles’ as he’s moving back toward the couch. “Maybe.” Scott knows it’s a lie. Like before, though, he lets it slide for now.

  

* * *

 

He stares at the ceiling for a long time. The moment had seemed perfect. It was supposed to be perfect. The words were supposed to come out, and Stiles was going to ask him to stick around. Maybe he was being overly optimistic, but he didn’t think it would go this poorly. If he had, he never would’ve said a thing. Things would be normal. Sure, normal meant concealing everything, but at least it wouldn’t be this awkward avoidance dance.

He knows he metaphorically pulled the pin and threw the grenade, but the ball isn’t in his court anymore. He said what he wanted to. He needs to be patient and wait it out.

 

* * *

 

“We need to do something.”

“Well, please Scott, come right on in,” Lydia says to the empty doorway.

“Sorry, it’s just that we really need to do something. Stuff went down between Stiles and Derek; I don’t know what, but I know that it did. They’re both acting shifty, especially when the other is brought up in conversation. We need to figure out how to get them together. I don’t like this discord within the pack; it’s stressing me out.”

“I can see that. Have a seat; I was just brewing myself some tea.”

“Lydia,” Scott knows there’s a high level of whininess in his voice, but he doesn’t care. “I don’t need tea. I need a plan.”

“Calm yourself.” She pushes him down onto the loveseat and moves to the small apartment’s kitchen. She returns a couple minutes later and places a warm mug in Scott’s hands. “So, Christmas is next week.”

“Lydia,” Scott whines again.

“Invite both of the idiots to your house for some holiday baking, then when they’re both there, lock them in the basement together until they talk it out.”

“I am not locking them up. I am not that kind of alpha or person. There has to be something else we can do.”

“Have they seen each other since, what did you say? The ‘stuff went down’?”

“I don’t think so. It’s been two weeks, and as far as I know, they’re avoiding one another.”

“Just get them in the same room then. That’s what they’re avoiding. Neither of them want to be the first to give in because despite my correctional attempts, you’re all just a bunch of cavemen.”

 

* * *

 

He’s lying in bed when his phone chimes. Not quite asleep, but not fully awake either. The message is simple and straightforward, “We need to talk.” He shoots back an affirmative response, asking when would work best. While he waits for a response, his eyes are drawn to the seven-foot Christmas tree the pack had insisted on.

“Now?” is the response. He strains for a second and can make out the sound of feet pacing back and forth and back again. After pulling himself from the bed, he moves toward his front door and slides it open.

“You realize it’s 2:30 in the morning, right?”

“You didn’t have to let me in,” Stiles shoots back as he moves around Derek into the loft. “We need to talk before Scott ambushes us tomorrow. He thinks he’s being subtle, but he so is not. I’m sure he’s been sniffing around here just as much as he has at my place. The boy means well, but I don’t want him to fight my battles for me, ya know?”

“I’m a battle now?”

“It’s a saying,” Stiles says with a flat look. “Anyway. Talking; it needs to happen now.”

“Stiles…I just…”

“You just what?” Stiles demands. When Derek takes a beat too long to answer, Stiles starts pacing again and asks, “Decided to confess something that earth shattering when I couldn’t do a damn thing about it? Decided to just walk away and not reach out again? Or was it just some elaborate joke? Because, honestly, I had no idea what to think, and I still don’t.”

“It isn’t a joke. You didn’t respond, so I thought I would give you some space. I was trying to let you process and make your own choice.”

“I didn’t respond because you whispered it in a room full of werewolves! I figured you didn’t want them to know! If you had stuck around for a few minutes, maybe you would’ve known that.”

“It’s been two weeks.”

“Which is why I was really beginning to think it was a prank. After Scott started acting all shifty, I began to consider that maybe it wasn’t a prank. That maybe, just maybe, you had opened up to him, and he was trying to be a wingman. Even though, if Scott is ever going to wingman for someone, it’s going to be for me.”

“I didn’t open up to him. He could just sense things had changed.”

“Because they have. In a big fucking way. Look, Derek, I miss you okay? These last two weeks have kind of been hell. You broke the rules.”

“The rules were stupid.”

“Your face is stupid.” Stiles stops walking and sags against the back of the couch.

“So is yours, but for some reason, I can’t seem to get enough of it. I mean what I said; I’ve fallen in love with you. I think it came out the way it did because I had a fantasy of you throwing out all of your stupid rules when I said it.” Derek takes a couple steps toward Stiles. “I wanted you to kiss me, Stiles, in front of the entire pack. I wanted you to kiss me because I have tasted every inch of you, except for your lips. I wanted you to kiss me then and there because our scents have been so intertwined that my wolf needed you to publicly claim me. That’s why I did what I did.”

“I think I might’ve freaked out so much because I might feel the same way.”

“Think I can convince that might into a for sure?” Derek asks, moving a few more steps closer.

 

* * *

 

The next day, Scott decides to send out a mass-pack text inviting everyone over for some holiday baking. He figures having the entire pack there might help put Derek and Stiles at ease, maybe help them to feel less ambushed. He’s floored when Stiles and Derek show up last, hand-in-hand, pausing in the entryway beneath the fake plastic mistletoe Liam had insisted on hanging.

“Derek’s wolf wanted me to let all of you know that he’s mine,” Stiles announces as soon as they pull away from one another.

“Well, it seems that they have been paying attention,” Lydia says to Scott.

“Merry Christmas?”

“Indeed.”


End file.
